


The Flower Shop

by Darnskippytootin



Series: In Bloom [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, F/F, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 00:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6543103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darnskippytootin/pseuds/Darnskippytootin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spring marks the beginning of many things. A new year, new opportunities, and for Ruby and Blake, a new chance to find their "Happy Ever After".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Summer's Last Rose

The city of Vale was always sure to be bustling with activity at any given time of the day. The different variety of nationalities and ethnicities that resided in the city insured that one could never quite get bored walking in Vale’s many streets. Cultures from all of the four kingdoms seemed to be unified, as proven by all the diverse shops and attractions that were scattered about.  
While Blake appreciated the many sights that Vale had to offer, as of today, her goal was solely set on _one_ thing, and one thing only. Keeping a steadfast pace, Blake eventually found her target nestled beside a bakery. A small flower shop, which was currently hiring.

Blake had moved to Vale nearly a month ago. After finding a place to call her own, and familiarizing herself with the city, Blake had set about, looking to find a job and finally start a new life she could live without regret.

The task had been just as invigoratingly frustrating as she had, sadly, expected. After a recent White Fang attack, that had taken several human and faunus lives, finding a place that would hire her turned out to be an even bigger challenge, than it otherwise would have been.  
When the stores actually allowed faunus visitors, she would just end up getting fired or quitting anyway because her heritage had caused the customers or other coworkers “severe discomfort”. One night, shortly after another failed job attempt, Blake walked with dejected steps up to her apartment, almost stepping on a bouquet of snowdrops that laid outside the apartment right across from Blake’s. Giving the bouquet a passing look, Blake managed to catch the logo printed on the wrapping: Summer’s Last Rose. If you asked her, Blake wouldn’t be able to tell you why she even bothered looking up the shop on her scroll. She didn’t know why she felt that her luck might finally turn. But when she discovered that the shop was hiring, she just knew that she had to give this a shot.

And that was how Blake now found herself outside of the small flower shop.

She stood hesitantly in front of the door. There didn’t seem to be any “no faunus allowed!” signs, so that was a good start. Finally, after taking a deep, calming breath, Blake turned the door handle and stepped inside, a soft ding! echoed as she did so. Blake walked cautiously on the velvet carpet that donned the shop's entire floor, taking in the sites of all the different colored and shaped flowers. It was quite charming, but Blake’s quiet observations were quickly interrupted, when a cheerful voice called out to her.

“Good morning! How can I help you?”

Behind the disk stood a small woman, a bit younger than Blake. She only went up to about Blake’s nose in height, and had a friendly smile on her lips with short, dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. She was wearing a red apron, bearing the store’s logo right in the middle of her chest.  
Almost forgetting her manners, Blake sent the woman a short confirmatory nod, and stepped up closer to the disk.

“Morning…” Blake’s eyes shifted, avoiding the woman’s gaze out of reflex. The reminder that this could very well turn out just like her previous attempts had Blake tugging nervously at the straps on her watch.  
Based on the friendly greeting, Blake could at least take some comfort in knowing that the florist wasn’t another bigoted racist. Or maybe she _was_ , and simply put on a friendly act for the sake of customer policy.  
Blake was quick to burry that thought deep in the ground, and finally looked back into the woman’s questioning eyes. Miraculously, she managed to keep her voice even as she asked ”I heard that you were hiring?” Blake expected the human’s silver eyes to either shift nervously, looking for excuses so that she could deny the claim, or remain neutral, confirming Blake’s question as professionally as any working person would do.  
What she did _not_ expect, was to see the woman’s eyes light up, her friendly smile turning into an enormous grin, that marked her round cheeks with two small dimples.

“We are!” The joyous woman squealed, before quickly composing herself again, coughing into her hand and straightening her posture. The florist tried to once again give off the appearance of a professional, but her smile still remained. “I-I mean, we are. Well, _I_ am.” The owner looked sheepishly at the floor as she talked, fiddling with her fingers. “It’s just me here. Working the shop. That’s why I was looking for help…” She shook her head before looking back up at Blake and extending her hand forward. “I’m Ruby! Ruby Rose.”  
It took Blake a second before she returned the polite gesture.

“Blake Belladonna” She answered back, before pulling her hand from Ruby’s remarkably soft one.

“Are you looking to apply for the job?” Ruby asked, not even bothering to hide her hopeful tone. Honestly, Blake wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the smaller woman. If Ruby’s rowdy nature was a sign for times to come, Blake wasn’t sure how well their working relationship would turn out.  
That said, Ruby seemed nice. Incredibly so. She didn’t appear to mind the extra pair of ears or the appendage swaying lazily behind Blake. That was a lot more than what the faunus could say about all the other people she had enquired.  
A nice shop, with a nice owner, at a nice job. It might not have been where Blake held her interest’s, but she knew that she couldn’t let an opportunity like this slip past her. Besides, it’s not like she had a whole lot of other options.

With that final thought, Blake made her decision.

“Yeah, I am.”


	2. About To Bloom

_Asphodel, Rosemary, Heliotrope, Hollyhock…_  
Ruby was currently waiting for her employee. Her first ever employee, whom she knew little about, had only talked to once, and who was also very, very pretty. Ruby didn’t know where that last part came from, but suffice to say, she was a little bit… anxious. The excitement, from finally having found someone to take the job, seemed to dwindle somewhere between Yang congratulating her, and Yang reassuring her that of _course_ you’re going to be a good boss Ruby! It was just a joke oh, god, Weiss please help me.

As the minutes ticked by, and Blake’s arrival approached, Ruby rested her upper body on the disc, continuing residing as many flowers as she could remember in her head. The little habit had started out as a game she used to play with her mom as a kid. Now, it was a useful tool that always helped her when she was stressed, or nervous… or just plain bored.  
 _Red Tulip, Purple Tulip, Yellow Tulip…_ “Wait, what was the last one?”

“The Last what?”

“GARGH!”

Ruby nearly toppled over the disc, barely managing to catch herself and quickly turn around to face the person responsible for her near heart attack. Blake looked curiously at Ruby, her cat ears twitching slightly. Ruby sighed, putting a hand on her chest “Oh, Blake! it’s just you...” Once she regained her bearing, Ruby straitened up and gave the faunus a once over. Donning a new red apron, and with her raven hair tied up in a ponytail, Blake seemed ready as ever to begin her new job. Ruby couldn’t help but smile at her new employee; maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all! “So! Are you ready to start your new life as a florist?”  
Blake gave a little smile as she nodded.

“I’d say so. Where do you want me to start?” Ruby inspected the shop, humming to herself as she considered which task she could give Blake as they waited for the customers to arrive, which they usually did around 9 am. Upon noticing a couple of dirt smudges on the floor, Ruby gave a quick glance to the clock hanging on the wall beside the disc.   
8:30. Ruby nodded to herself before turning back to Blake.

“Would you mind sweeping the floors, while I get some flowers from the back?” She asked. Ruby knew that floor sweeping probably wasn’t the most glamorous task she could have given Blake, but hopefully, the faunus wouldn’t mind. Or would she? _Oh, god, did I already mess it up?!_  
Blake shrugged her shoulders.

“Sure. Where can I find a broom?” Relieved that she hadn't screwed herself over, (yet) Ruby quickly helped Blake find what she needed and got to work herself. Restocking on flowers never took her very long, so, while she waited for Blake to finish her sweeping, Ruby decided to try her luck at one of her many weaknesses: Small-talk.

“So… are you here from Vale?”  
Blake paused for a moment, retying the strings on her apron, before answering Ruby.  
“No. I moved here recently."

“Oh, okay… do you like Vale so far?

Ruby couldn’t help but feel like she was just annoying the faunus with her questions. Maybe she was just getting nervous over nothing again, but honestly, it was kinda hard to tell how Blake was feeling. She always spoke with the same monotone voice; for all Ruby knew, her coworker could be silently planning her murder right about now.  
Upon Ruby’s question, Blake let out a small sigh. Having finished with the last bit of sweeping, she silently put the broom and dustpan back in place before joining Ruby at the disc, slightly rubbing her wrist.

“Vale is… nice. To be honest, I haven’t really explored the city that much.” Alright, Ruby was definitely getting somewhere! Kinda. Blake still seemed very secluded. Ruby tapped her fingers on the disc, quickly thinking of ways to keep the conversation going.

“Y-yeah, I know what you mean. When me and Yang, my sister, moved to Vale a year ago, I was so caught up with getting the shop up and running, that I didn’t notice the book store right around the corner until a little while ago! Actually, Yang told- “

“A book store?” Blake’s ears perked up, her neutral expression shifting into genuine curiosity. Now that Ruby was sure that Blake was actually interested in their little chat, she started to feel herself relax a little bit. Ruby nodded as she felt an easy smile form on her lips. Small talk may not be her best strength, but if there was anything that Ruby could do, without fault, then it was taking care of flowers, and talking about books!

“Yeah! Just around the corner there’s this neat little book shop called Tukson’s Book Trade. The owner there is super nice, and he’s got all kinds of books! You should totally go check it out sometime!” As Ruby continued to ramble, she could feel Blake watching her intently, taking in every word. Whenever Ruby got bold enough to maintain eye contact, she couldn’t help but think that the faunus’ amber eyes looked really pretty. She also thought that the ponytale looked really nice on Blake with her long raven hair and- _oh God, am I staring?_  
Ruby didn’t get any time to worry about her bad manners before Blake gave her a small nod, turning her head towards the entrance to the shop as the day’s first customer walked in.

“I think I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up coming out a lot later than I had hoped. School has been kinda hectic, and it's only going to get worse going into May and June (;-_-). Fret not though! I'll do my darnest to keep this story somewhat consistently updated :P For now all I can promise is one update per weak. Thats the ideal at least. Thanks for reading!


	3. Something new

As it turned out, selling flowers had ended up being rather different than what Blake had expected, which had everything to do with her bubbly boss. When Ruby wasn’t busy dealing with customers, or wrapping up 8 different bouquets at once, she would often try to engage in friendly conversations with Blake, which then somehow spiraled into her giving Blake an excruciatingly detailed lecture about flowers. During Blake’s first week at Summers’ Last Rose, Ruby thought it vital that Blake had at least the _simplest_ understanding of the shop’s regular floral stock. The faunus wasn’t very open to the “lessons” at first. While Ruby was busy listing off all the different regions where the anthurium (also known as the tail flower, or flamingo flower) were most commonly located, Blake found herself only half listening out of courtesy, but not really that interested. Every now and again, Ruby would stop to get feedback from Blake, asking if her coworker was able to follow along or if she was talking too fast. It was hard for Blake to keep pretending that she had been following much of anything, and she quickly decided that being upfront with the woman was better than feeling guilty about it later.

“That sounds… really interesting Ruby, but honestly, I’m not really much of a flower enthusiast.” Ruby seemed torn between surprised and confused. Ultimately, she settled with a small pout. Ruby was probably a little annoyed for having her lectures cutoff by her rude “student”. Blake suppressed a smirk at the gesture. Then, it suddenly dawned on her how her comment could have been interpreted, and she was immediately struck with a pang of regret. Ruby was, without a doubt, very passionate about her profession, and scoffing at someone's devotion to something like that was… well, it was a pretty dick move, to put it simple. Blake quickly sought to remedy her comment.  
“N-not that I think it’s dumb, at all! It’s just not really my- “

“What do you like then?”

“Huh?”

“Well… if you’re not much of a flower fan, I was just wondering what you liked instead?” Ruby situated herself on the disc, legs crossed. A little smile donned her face. “Oh! You like books, right? I think you mentioned it on your first day here?” Ruby’s keen eyes seemed to glint as they regarded Blake, but the faunus waved that off as the sun that was streaming through the windows. For some reason, Blake couldn’t help but be astounded at how little Ruby seemed to care about appearing as an authoritative figure in her own shop. Had it been any other person, Blake would had waved it off as indifference, but she didn’t think that was the case with Ruby. No, Ruby was definitely not indifferent, just… at ease. That was the best word Blake could think of. Ruby had no interest in asserting authority towards her employee, instead, she seemed more eager to create a stable friendship between the two. Calling them “Friends” already might be a bit generous, still, it did help Blake feel a bit more at ease in Ruby’s company.

“Yeah, I did. Ever since I was a kid, I always thought of writing books of my own, and working in at huge library with books of all sorts of genres…” Blake could scarcely recall the first book she had ever read on her own, and how all of her future dreams had sprung up from that simple achievement. Truthfully, writing a book and working in a library hadn’t been the only things Blake had dreamed of as a child. She had once wanted to fight for a just cause, inspiring others to fight alongside her, and starting a new generation that would be devoid of thoughtless violence and hatred. In some ways, she still did, but the faunus had already flown to close to the sun once, and she wasn’t about to make that same mistake again.  
Those childhood memories seemed so distant now. Blake didn’t know if that was simply the work of time, or her own doing. At any rate, they were now more bittersweet than anything, but Blake still kept them close to heart, for better or worse.  
“…I never really got around to it though. Things always seemed to get in the way, and when… circumstances started to change, I had to leave my home behind, and look for a new one. That’s why I moved to Vale.” Blake never thought that talking about her past could end up feeling like a balancing act, and yet, her she were, having split-seconds contemplations on whether she was revealing too much, or not being honest enough. “I still read regularly in my free time though, so that’s something I’ve still held on to...” Blake had tried to go for “optimistic” when she gave that book comment, and somehow, it ended up sounding more like a sad kazoo.  
Ruby nodded, but her smiled lowered a bit. She seemed to have caught on to the kazoo.

“Then… why are you here?”

Blake looked almost startled at the question, having not quite anticipated it. When she didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds, Ruby chose to elaborate, “I-I mean, not that I don’t like having you here!” A slight pink hue tinted the florist’s cheeks as she waved her hands franticly in front of her. “Not at all! I was j-just, well, what I was trying to ask was-” Despite Ruby’s current distress, Blake couldn’t help but think it awfully cute. Her boss could be _so_ incredibly awkward when it came to talking with people, like the time she accidentally exclaimed “you too!” when a customer had thanked her for the flowers. Minor screw-ups and embarrassments aside, the fact that Ruby had still chosen a job that challenged her Achilles heels daily, simply because she felt so strongly for it… Well, Blake really admired that in people. Even if the last person she had expected to see that kind of strength in was Ruby, it only made her realize that there might be a bit more to her boss than the hyperactive, socially awkward and undeniably adorable florist she had met only a week ago.  
“Um, Blake?” The faunus was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts as Ruby addressed her while waving one hand in front of Blake’s face. “Aaaanybody home?” Ruby continued waving her hand until Blake slapped it away playfully, the corners of her lips tucking upwards at Ruby’s antics.

“Sorry, Ruby. I sort of spaced out there. What were you saying?” Ruby gave off a slight scoff, but didn’t really do anything to hide her smile.

“I was trying to ask, why you didn’t look for a job at a library, or a book store if you don’t like flowers?” Blake gave off a sigh she hoped came out more tired than annoyed. Ruby had no way of knowing that Blake actually had tried to apply to the local library, but then ended up quitting shortly after, because of harassment from some of her coworkers. It had only been about two of them, but her boss’s indifference to her troubles had been enough incentive for Blake to get out of there. It didn’t really surprise Blake either that Ruby was unaware that the bookshop she had tried to visit didn’t allow faunus.

“I did, actually. But neither of the shops I went to were very faunus-friendly. After that, I tried my hand at a number of different jobs that I thought I would be able to handle with somewhat same results. I found out about your shop by chance, and decided to try my luck. And the rest is history.”  
It suddenly occurred to Blake that it had been quite a while since their last customer left the shop. A quick glance at the watch told her that she had been able to get off work seven minutes ago. Had they really been talking for so long? It wasn’t like Blake to so easily loose track of time, unless she was reading. Though honestly, that seemed to have been happening a lot this past week. What had originally just been a daily grind Blake needed to do to get by, had somehow ended up being her most treasured part of the day. And Blake would be lying if she said she hadn’t grown to really like working with Ruby in the short time she had gotten to know her. Time passes quickly when you’re in good company, and Blake considered Ruby's company to be one of the better ones she had got to enjoy in a while. Another thing suddenly occurred to Blake: her boss had gone eerily quiet. “Ruby?” She asked, regarding the other woman as she seemed to have been in deep thought. _I guess I’m not really one to judge…_  
Ruby snapped her head back up to look at Blake, before her eyes shifted to the side.

“So… Blake…” Ruby sounded hesitant, for some reason. “You remember that guy with the bookshop I told you about a week ago?” Blake nodded slowly, not quite sure were Ruby was going with this.

“Yeah. Tucson, right?” Ruby perked up, just slightly.

“Yep! That’s the one.” She then looked down at a stray leaf she was fiddling with in her hands. “I was just thinking… I’m sort of a regular at his shop, and he’s a really nice guy, so we’ve talked here and there about stuff. Mostly books, b-but that’s not the point!” Ruby sighed deeply, raising her head up, she was once again at eye-level with Blake. She loosened her grib on the leaf and let it flutter to the floor. “So. If you wanted to. I could maybe ask him if he would be interested in hiring anybody who could help him out, since it’s just him in the shop.” Blake found herself at a loss for words, a thousand thoughts whirling around her head like a hurricane. Why did Ruby suddenly want her to leave the shop when she just said moments ago that she liked working together? Had Blake done something wrong? Was this Ruby's...indirect way of firing her? She didn’t get to finished that thought before Ruby started talking again, her voice getting more...somber... “It’s just,” a sigh again, “I just don’t think it’s fair that you can’t get a job that you actually _like_ , you know? You shouldn’t be forced to work in a flower shop just because some dumb people are giving you a hard time for being born the way you are. Tucson’s a really great guy, a-and he’s a faunus too! So, you know, you would finally be able to work with books, like you wanted, and without people being mean to you because of your ears and tail! A-and! Just as and added bonus, I’ll give and exclusive discount for any bouquet of your choosing!” Ruby had begun to wave her arms franticly again, but Blake hardly noticed it this time.

Ruby was really something else, wasn’t she?

Blake felt a pleasant warmth spread throughout her entire body. She had the weird urge to cry, but in a good way, somehow.

“That’s fine Ruby.”

“Huh?”

“I appreciate the offer, but… I’d really like to work here a bit longer, if that’s okay with you?” 

The gigawatt grin Blake received, (as well as the bone crushing hug) was all the answer Blake needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what the hell happened with this chapter. this was not the chapter 3 i had planned to write at all.  
> eh, whatever. i hope the longer chapter at least makes up for the delay!


	4. Update

Change of plans. I have been at a bit of a stump on how to progress the story further, so to help give me better overview, I decided to make a new layout of this series, since the original wasn't really doing it for me. One of the changes that I have decided upon is that "The Flower Shop" is basically just a prequel to the real story, which I am planning out right now. This of course means that it'll be a while before it comes out. But! In the meantime, go check out my new one-shot: Clean as a whisker. I'll be sure to post similar short-stories in the future while the the flower story is still being planned out.

See ya!


End file.
